Posted By :  Admin1

The Supreme Court of India (SC) has strongly emphasised the Government’s obligation to safeguard doctors and health professionals who died during the COVID-19 crisis. The Court, while reserving its judgment on a petition concerning the exclusion of private doctors and non-recognised hospitals from a government insurance scheme, warned that “society will not forgive us if we don’t take care of our doctors.” 

The bench, comprising Justices P. S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan, was hearing a plea challenging the decision to deny an insurance benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) to doctors who ran private clinics and succumbed to COVID-19 despite responding to patient needs. ([Medical Dialogues][1]) The Court underscored that it is not sufficient to restrict benefits only to those doctors officially designated for COVID duty. What matters, it said, is that the doctor was actively taking care of patients during the pandemic and died of a COVID infection. 

The Court laid down that credible evidence must show the deceased doctor kept their facility open during the pandemic and died because of COVID. Once these conditions are met, exclusion solely on the basis that the doctor was not under government deployment is not justified. Further, the SC directed the Centre to submit data on all parallel schemes besides the PMGKP to establish clear principles for benefit eligibility. 

The case originated from a petition by a family who lost a doctor in private practice, whose claim under the PMGKP was rejected as his clinic was not a recognised COVID hospital and he was not formally deployed by the state. The High Court had previously ruled in favour of the insurance company, prompting the appeal to the SC. 

The Court emphasised that the purpose of the insurance cover is to provide a safety net for health-workers who faced risk during the pandemic—not to function merely as a welfare scheme—but even so, the criteria should not unduly exclude genuine cases.